The fight against ISIS

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

This is just cowardly and loathsome. When you reduce yourself to an insect no one will mind you getting stomped on like one.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqi-woman-activist-killed-islamic-state-25748297

Iraqi Woman Activist Killed by Islamic State
BAGHDAD — Sep 25, 2014, 3:03 PM ET
By VIVIAN SALAMA Associated Press
Associated Press

Militants with the Islamic State group tortured and then publicly killed a human rights lawyer in the Iraqi city of Mosul after their self-proclaimed religious court ruled that she had abandoned Islam, the U.N. mission in Iraq said Thursday.

Gunmen with the group's newly declared police force seized Samira Salih al-Nuaimi last week in a northeastern district of the Mosul while she was home with her husband and three children, two people with direct knowledge of the incident told The Associated Press on Thursday. Al-Nuaimi was taken to a secret location. After about five days, the family was called by the morgue to retrieve her corpse, which bore signs of torture, the two people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears for their safety.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, her arrest was allegedly connected to Facebook messages she posted that were critical of the militants' destruction of religious sites in Mosul. A statement by the U.N. on Thursday added that al-Nuaimi was tried in a so-called "Sharia court" for apostasy, after which she was tortured for five days before the militants sentenced her to "public execution." Her Facebook page appears to have been removed since her death.

"By torturing and executing a female human rights' lawyer and activist, defending in particular the civil and human rights of her fellow citizens in Mosul, ISIL continues to attest to its infamous nature, combining hatred, nihilism and savagery, as well as its total disregard of human decency," Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. envoy to Iraq, said in a statement, referring to the group by an acronym. The statement did not say how she was killed.

Among Muslim hard-liners, apostasy is thought to be not just conversion from Islam to another faith, but also committing actions that they believe are so against the faith that one is considered to have abandoned Islam.

Mosul is the largest city held by the Islamic State group in the self-declared "caliphate" it has carved out, bridging northern and eastern Syria with northern Iraq. Since overrunning the once-diverse city in June, the group has forced religious minorities to convert to Islam, pay special taxes or die, causing tens of thousands to flee. The militants have enforced a strict dress code on women, going so far as to veil the faces of female mannequins in store fronts.

In August, the group destroyed a number of historic landmarks in the town, including several mosques and shrines, claiming they promote idolatry and depart from principles of Islam.

Al-Nuaimi's death is the latest in a string of attacks by the militant group to silence female activists and politicians. In July in the nearby town of Sderat, militants broke into the house of a female candidate in the last provincial council elections, killed her and abducted her husband, the U.N. said. On the same day, another female politician was abducted from her home in eastern Mosul; she remains missing.

Hanaa Edwer, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist, said at least five female political activists have been killed in recent weeks by the Islamic State group in Mosul, including al-Nuaimi, who Edwer said was also running for a seat on the provincial council.

"But it is not just women being targeted," Edwer said. "They will kill anyone with a voice. It is terrifying."

The Gulf Center for Human Rights said Wednesday that al-Nuaimi had worked on detainee rights and poverty. The Bahrain-based rights organization said her death "is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate human rights work, in particular defending the civil and human rights of her fellow citizens in Mosul."

The Islamic State extremists' blitz eventually prompted the United State to launch airstrikes last month, to aid Kurdish forces and protect religious minorities in Iraq.

This week, the U.S. and five allied Arab states expanded the aerial campaign into Syria, where the militant group is battling President Bashar Assad's forces as well as Western-backed rebels. Despite making gains in some of the country's more isolated areas, where airstrikes have paved the way for successful ground operations by Kurdish and Iraqi forces, the cities of Mosul and Fallujah remain major strongholds of the group, which has buried itself among large civilian populations.

The militant group recently killed 40 Iraq soldiers and captured 68 near Fallujah and then paraded their captives through the city in a show of brawn.

Nearly a dozen countries have also provided weapons and training to Kurdish peshmerga fighters, who were strained after months of battling the jihadi group.

In other developments Thursday, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visited northern Iraq for talks with Kurdish leaders about the fight against Islamic State extremists and Berlin's efforts to help with arms deliveries.

Thursday also marked the start of German arms deliveries to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, with the ultimate goal of supplying 10,000 Kurdish fighters with some 70 million euros ($90 million) worth of equipment.

"We are involved with relief shipments and the airlift, but we know that this is not sufficient," said von der Leyen. "Much more is needed to get these (millions of people) through the winter."

———

Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin and Bram Janssen in Irbil and an Associated Press reporter in Mosul contributed to this report.

 

[MustBeGood]

ISIS Hostage Executioner 'Jihadi John' Identified by the FBI
The Atlantic Wire By Polly Mosendz

The man who murdered James Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines has been identified by FBI officials.

Thus far, the executioner has been known only as "Jihadi John." He was known to intelligence officials as a hostage negotiator for a group of British ISIS fighters in Syria. He was also a guard for hostages in Raqqa. He originally hails from the United Kingdom, likely the London area, based on his accent. One of his former hostages said John is "intelligent, educated and a devout believer in radical Islamic teachings."

While the identity is now known to intelligence officials, it will not be publicly released, presumably as the military works to apprehend him. Though the man will not be named, this is a major step to taking down the terrorist network.

Yesterday, a "copy cat" video of the ISIS beheadings was released by the terrorist organization "Caliphate Soldiers" based in Syria. They murdered a French mountaineer who was kidnapped in Algeria, though their video was distinctly different than that of ISIS, in which "John" is featured and gives the final speech in English.

 

[pool_hustler]

UAE’s first female fighter pilot likely dropping bombs on ISIS militants in Syria

Outstanding :hatsoff:

This is just cowardly and loathsome. When you reduce yourself to an insect no one will mind you getting stomped on like one.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqi-woman-activist-killed-islamic-state-25748297

These sick fucks are supposedly masters of propaganda, but it seems they're rapidly managing to turn damn near everyone against them. That's a very encouraging and heartening thing to see.

 

[Straight Shooter]

I will no longer use the word "ISIS" instead I will refer to them as Daesh, which was their original name and is an acronym for Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq. The main reason why I will call them Daesh form now on is because in Arabic Daesh is an insult and the extremist group themselves have said that they will cut out the tongues of whoever calls them Daesh. I'm perfectly happy insulting them by calling them Daesh and you should too

 

[Rattrap]

You know...I'm aware of the West's role in the creation of these guys. I'm aware that our mucking about and such for decades is fuel for the extremists' fire. Robert Pape wrote Dying to Win after analysing suicide terrorism across the globe that our involvement in the Middle East made 9/11/01 something like 20 times more likely to happen than if we had minded our business. I accept that we as Americans implicitly share some of the blame in all this by electing crooks and criminals or abstaining from voting them out. We have a lot of blood on our collective hands. I'm aware of the moral dilemma of being appalled by horrible violence while wanting to inflict just that on perpetrators.

I know all this, but I'll still feel better when these 'people' are reduced to constituent body parts in an explosive fashion.

 

[Johan]

UAE’s first female fighter pilot likely dropping bombs on ISIS militants in Syria

Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri, 35, joined the United Arab Emirates' air force once the military branch accepted women. She graduated the academy in 2008 and now pilots an F-16 Block 60 fighter jet, likely among those taking part in the air strikes against Islamic State terrorists in Syria.


Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri is believed to be the first woman from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to become an Emirates Air Force pilot.


She’s raining bombs on terrorist thugs.

The first female pilot in the United Arab Emirates' air force is reportedly taking part in the coalition air strikes against ISIS militants hiding in Syria.

Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri, 35, is a squadron commander piloting an F-16 Block 60 fighter jet likely among those dropping munitions this week in coordinated attacks against Islamic State strongholds near Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/uae-female-fighter-pilot-dropping-bombs-isis-article-1.1951052


On her bombs is written "Subjugate THIS, bitch."

To his credit, he apologizes : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYwRj7-MH-8

 

[Ovidius]

There's a place for the Geneva convention and all the human rights stuff. But when you're dealing with a death cult, you have to realize that those things only matter to you. And as long as you hang on to them, the sooner you'll die. Nuclear weapons haven't been used sine Nagasaki, because of the fear of mutual destruction. Newsflash, ISIS doesn't care if they live or die. And as their power continues to grow and money keeps flowing(was $2 billion a week ago), sooner or later they will get their hands on some WMDs.

We have thousands of NBC weapons just lying around. It's time to use them on the ONLY so called people who deserve them. Time to nip this in the bud.

ISIS is not a signatory to any conventions regarding war or the laws of war; i.e. what you can do to ISIS fighters is only limited by your imagination. PETA and SPCA are really the only organizations that have any remit here...

People seem to forget that one. Oh for the smell of napalm in the morning...

 

[Ovidius]

But let us be more realistic and sober for a moment.

Everything is not different this time. What we are talking about is a military intervention against a militant Sunni group in a predominately Sunni area during a time of religious and ethnic conflict: i.e. Afghanistan all over again. And, quite frankly, I cannot see any reason as to why this should go any other way than that intervention since the only real alternative to ISIS in Syria is the al-Assad regime and its Iranian/Russian backers, a regime that the US and its allies have more or less pledged to bring down. If you are looking for moderate forces in Syria, keep on looking because you wont find them. Not now. Yes, it really is Afghanistan all over again.

The Sunni militants, ISIS as well as al Qaida, are backed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all key US allies in the Gulf (in the struggle to contain Iran and to curtail Russian influence no less), and without any doubt the CIA and the US Government. In other words, the US and Nato would be fighting their own friends and themselves on behalf of their enemies. Thus, this is all pure comedy. It will be even more funny when the US will fail to employ all effective tactics against its frenemies. Again, Afghanistan all over again. There exists a considerable experience in effective COIN-warfare and much of it is available from Amazon.com or in any militaty library; we could mention names like C. E. Callwell and R. Trinquier. Unfortunately I cannot see either politicians or public to stomach those methods.

Thus my prediction is that US and Nato forces will blunder around in the region, kick up some very impressive dustclouds, and in the end only manage to bomb up even more support for ISIS. My guess is also that your friends in Saudi Arabia, who showed no great respect for human rights as they put down the uprisings in Bahrain, will not complain too much about your niceties as they will be more than happy to see you engage in an ineffectual campaign against their clients in ISIS.

Now, the best way to handle ISIS would be to arm Assad and his forces, to give them back the chemical weapons that they gave up recently, and ask them nicely to gas ISIS. But that would be far too practical and effective for Obama to even consider. And that would piss of your 'allies' in the Gulf to no end.

 

[Johan]

Now, the best way to handle ISIS would be to arm Assad and his forces, to give them back the chemical weapons that they gave up recently, and ask them nicely to gas ISIS. But that would be far too practical and effective for Obama to even consider. And that would piss of your 'allies' in the Gulf to no end.

Arming or training anyone is always a mistake. We've seen in 2001 the consequences of having trained the afghans during the 80', we see now the consequences of having armed the syrian rebels last year...
The best way to deal with ISIS is to let them have it their way in the region, let Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran or Jordan deal with this threat and not intefering in anyway but make sure that none of these guys actually gets in our western civilised countries.

 

[Ovidius]

Arming or training anyone is always a mistake. We've seen in 2001 the consequences of having trained the afghans during the 80', we see now the consequences of having armed the syrian rebels last year...
The best way to deal with ISIS is to let them have it their way in the region, let Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran or Jordan deal with this threat and not intefering in anyway but make sure that none of these guys actually gets in our western civilised countries.

But that would be the sane policy.

 

[Lonilover]

ISIS Hostage Executioner 'Jihadi John' Identified by the FBI
The Atlantic Wire By Polly Mosendz

No doubt this man should be brought to justice or to be killed even, but honestly what is the use concentrating on this one man, if you kill this one another one will step in line to do what he did.. they should keep on doing what they're doing now just bomb everything which means IS. in the news was today that there are 3000 muslims from Europe fighting with IS... what does that say.. ? ..:eek::bang:

 

[Ovidius]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/388990/khorosan-group-does-not-exist-andrew-c-mccarthy

Interesting and well worth reading.

 

[Johan]

White House exempts Syria airstrikes from tight standards on civilian deaths

Amid reports of women and children killed in U.S. air offensive, official says the 'near certainty' policy doesn’t apply


The White House has acknowledged for the first time that strict standards President Obama imposed last year to prevent civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes will not apply to U.S. military operations in Syria and Iraq.

A White House statement to Yahoo News confirming the looser policy came in response to questions about reports that as many as a dozen civilians, including women and young children, were killed when a Tomahawk missile struck the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib province on the morning of Sept. 23.

The village has been described by Syrian rebel commanders as a reported stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front where U.S officials believed members of the so-called Khorasan group were plotting attacks against international aircraft.

But at a briefing for members and staffers of the House Foreign Affairs Committee late last week, Syrian rebel commanders described women and children being hauled from the rubble after an errant cruise missile destroyed a home for displaced civilians. Images of badly injured children also appeared on YouTube, helping to fuel anti-U.S. protests in a number of Syrian villages last week.

“They were carrying bodies out of the rubble. … I saw seven or eight ambulances coming out of there,” said Abu Abdo Salabman, a political member of one of the Free Syria Army factions, who attended the briefing for Foreign Affairs Committee members and staff. “We believe this was a big mistake.”

Asked about the strike at Kafr Daryan, a U.S. Central Command spokesman said Tuesday that U.S. military “did target a Khorasan group compound near this location. However, we have seen no evidence at this time to corroborate claims of civilian casualties.” But Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, told Yahoo News that Pentagon officials “take all credible allegations seriously and will investigate” the reports.

At the same time, however, Hayden said that a much-publicized White House policy that President Obama announced last year barring U.S. drone strikes unless there is a “near certainty” there will be no civilian casualties — "the highest standard we can meet," he said at the time — does not cover the current U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

The “near certainty” standard was intended to apply “only when we take direct action ‘outside areas of active hostilities,’ as we noted at the time,” Hayden said in an email. “That description — outside areas of active hostilities — simply does not fit what we are seeing on the ground in Iraq and Syria right now.”

Hayden added that U.S. military operations against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Syria, "like all U.S. military operations, are being conducted consistently with the laws of armed conflict, proportionality and distinction."

The laws of armed conflict prohibit the deliberate targeting of civilian areas and require armed forces to take precautions to prevent inadvertent civilian deaths as much as possible.

But one former Obama administration official said the new White House statement raises questions about how the U.S. intends to proceed in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, and under what legal authorities.

“They seem to be creating this grey zone” for the conflict, said Harold Koh, who served as the State Department’s top lawyer during President Obama’s first term. “If we’re not applying the strict rules [to prevent civilian casualties] to Syria and Iraq, then they are of relatively limited value."

Questions about civilian deaths from U.S. counterterrorism operations have confronted the Obama administration from the outset, after the president sharply ramped up drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, resulting in sometimes heated internal policy debates.

Addressing the subject last year in a speech at the National Defense University, Obama acknowledged for the first time that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, adding: “For me and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunt us as long as we live.”

Sources familiar with the new “near certainty” standard Obama announced at the time said that, as a practical matter, it meant that every drone strike had to be signed off on by the White House — first by Lisa Monaco, Obama’s chief homeland security adviser, and ultimately by the president himself. The policy, one source said, caused some Pentagon officials to chafe at the new restrictions — and led to a noticeable reduction in such strikes by the military and the CIA.

While the White House has said little about the standards it is using for strikes in Syria and Iraq, one former official who has been briefed on the matter said the looser policy gives more discretion to theater commanders at the U.S. Central Command to select targets without the same level of White House oversight.

The issue arose during last week’s briefing for two House Foreign Affairs Committee members and two staffers when rebel leaders associated with factions of the Free Syria Army, including Abu Abdo Salabman, complained about the civilian deaths — and the fact that the targets were in territory controlled by the Nusra Front, a sometimes ally of the U.S.-backed rebels in its war with the Islamic State and the Syrian regime.

But at least one of the House members present, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who supports stronger U.S. action in Syria, said he was not overly concerned. “I did hear them say there were civilian casualties, but I didn’t get details,” Kinzinger said in an interview with Yahoo News. “But nothing is perfect,” and whatever civilian deaths resulted from the U.S. strikes are “much less than the brutality of the Assad regime.”

http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-e...t-standards-on-civilian-deaths-183724795.html

Why giving a shit about a bunch of arabs ? Why having this war a little bit more dificult just to try not to kill too many of them ?
I guess the families, friends and neighbors of those civilians who are gonna be killed by american bombing are gonna love the US. They would never join ISIS to get revenge from America for their losses. Wouldn't they ?

 

[Legzman]

I like how a few days ago Obama blamed his intelligence staff for dropping the ball on ISIS. Um....yea, I'm pretty fuckin sure it was Obama. He either chose not to listen, or didn't care. Either way he is a total failure!

 

[Johan]

What Obama did with ISIS is comparable to what G. W. Bush about 9/11 before it happened

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

 

[MustBeGood]

I thought since W was in office we trained the Iraqi army.

Anbar province pleads for U.S. help as ISIS gains ground in Baghdad
POSTED 11:12 AM, OCTOBER 12, 2014, BY CNN WIRE, UPDATED AT 12:00PM, OCTOBER 12, 2014

Baghdad (CNN) — ISIS fighters stand on the verge of victory on two fronts, and poorly equipped local forces do their best to resist.

The Islamist extremists appear set to take a key Syrian town along the Turkish border and an entire province on Baghdad’s doorstep.

Leaders in Iraq’s Anbar province pleaded for U.S. ground troops to halt the group’s rapid, relentless assault. Officials in Baghdad and Washington have not given recognition to their appeal.

In a major setback, Gen. Ahmed Saddak, the police chief of Anbar province, was killed Saturday night in a roadside bomb that targeted his convoy, officials said.

ISIS, the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” which also is referred to as ISIL, controls about 80% of the province, said Anbar Provincial Council president Sabah Al-Karhout.

Reports Saturday suggest the militants have encircled Haditha, the last large town in Anbar province not yet in ISIS’ hands.

Should all of Anbar fall, the Sunni extremists would rule from the perimeter of Iraq’s capital to Raqqa in Syria, at least, according to the provincial council’s deputy head, Falleh al-Issawi.

They would control a swath 350 miles (563 kilometers) long.

‘U.S. will not deploy’



Iraqi army forces and Anbar tribesmen fighting alongside them have threatened to abandon their weapons if the U.S. military does not intervene, al-Issawi said.

The army soldiers lack training and equipment, he said. Already, some 1,800 tribesmen in the province have been killed or injured in the struggle.

But the Iraqi government has been adamant that it does not want U.S. forces on the ground, and U.S. President Barack Obama has not shown any intent to deploy any.

The Iraqi government said it has not received any official request from Anbar province for U.S. ground forces to help in the fight, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s media office said.

A U.S. defense official said Saturday that Iraq’s government hasn’t asked for any more American troops beyond those already in Iraq.

And if they did, the official added, “The U.S. will not deploy combat ground forces to Iraq. And we remain focused on enabling the (Iraqi military) in the fight against ISIL through our advise/assist efforts and the air campaign.”

‘Full control’ of Baghdad



A coalition airstrike Saturday killed more than 30 suspected ISIS militants in Iraq who were in an armed convoy west of Ramadi, city police Capt. Bahjat al-Hamdani said.

The U.S. and its allies conducted at least nine airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria on Saturday and early Sunday, according to the U.S. military.

Despite the air campaign, ISIS has expanded its reach.

In Iraq, ISIS has dispatched as many as 10,000 fighters to Anbar province from Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq, an Anbar official said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has acknowledged the dire situation, telling reporters that “Anbar province is in trouble. We know that.”

But officials said Baghdad is not likely to be the next domino to fall. “Iraqi security forces are in full control of Baghdad,” Hagel said.

Still, the equation could change if ISIS threatens Baghdad airport, from which U.S. Apache helicopters operate.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst, said: “I think at some point, there’s going to be the need for an additional ground force in western Iraq.”

Other coalition nations could provide those troops, he believes, or they could be American.

Warning of a massacre in Kobani



ISIS is still advancing in Syria, where it emerged during the years-long civil war. Its current focus there is Kobani, a Kurdish enclave a stone’s throw from Turkey.

And the militants are gradually taking control of a large chunk of Kobani. On Saturday, ISIS fighters clashed with local troops over the official border crossing into Turkey at Mursitpinar.

At least 36 ISIS militants died Saturday in various battles in Kobani against Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement Sunday. Eight Kurdish fighters were killed.

Should they take it, the militants would control three official border crossings between Turkey and Syria and a stretch of the border about 60 miles (97 kilometers) long.

Kurdish fighters are repelling some attacks, and on Saturday, U.S. and allied warplanes hit key ISIS targets nearby, according to U.S. Central Command.

But YPG and Free Syrian Army troops are vastly outnumbered and lack firepower.

Inside Kobani, a civilian said things are worse than ever; the people are forced to endure mortar fire and fear being beheaded should ISIS take over.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, said such brutality may become a reality.

“The 12,000 civilians … will be most likely massacred,” he said.

 

[Namenlos]

I like how a few days ago Obama blamed his intelligence staff for dropping the ball on ISIS. Um....yea, I'm pretty fuckin sure it was Obama. He either chose not to listen, or didn't care. Either way he is a total failure!

He didn't give two shits one way or another. I bet he's doing a victory dance with the Ebola outbreak, because the fire that is ISIS doesn't seem to be singing his ass so much anymore.

I will no longer use the word "ISIS" instead I will refer to them as Daesh, which was their original name and is an acronym for Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq. The main reason why I will call them Daesh form now on is because in Arabic Daesh is an insult and the extremist group themselves have said that they will cut out the tongues of whoever calls them Daesh. I'm perfectly happy insulting them by calling them Daesh and you should too

What I call them is not repeatable in this venue. I don't even call them pieces of shit, as I have flushed down the toilet things that have more worth than they do.

 

[Johan]

 

[MustBeGood]

Netherlands says OK for biker gangs to fight Islamic State

AFP October 14, 2014 11:51 AM

The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch public prosecutor said on Tuesday that motorbike gang members who have reportedly joined Kurds battling the Islamic State group in Iraq are not necessarily committing any crime.
Related Stories

"Joining a foreign armed force was previously punishable, now it's no longer forbidden," public prosecutor spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP.

"You just can't join a fight against the Netherlands," he told AFP after reports emerged that Dutch bikers from the No Surrender gang were fighting IS insurgents alongside Kurds in northern Iraq.

The head of No Surrender, Klaas Otto, told state broadcaster NOS that three members who travelled to near Mosul in northern Iraq were from Dutch cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Breda.

A photograph on a Dutch-Kurdish Twitter account shows a tattooed Dutchman called Ron in military garb, holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle while sat with a Kurdish comrade.

Video footage apparently from a Kurdish broadcaster shows an armed European man with Kurdish fighters saying in Dutch: "The Kurds have been under pressure for a long time."

Many countries including the Netherlands have been clamping down on their nationals trying to join IS jihadists who have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Measures include confiscating would-be jihadists' passports before travelling and threatening prosecution should they return.

"The big difference with IS is that it's listed as a terrorist group," said De Bruin.

"That means that even preparing to join IS is punishable."

Dutch citizens could not however join the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as it is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, De Bruin said.

A photograph on a Dutch-Kurdish Twitter account shows a tattooed Dutchman called Ron in military garb, holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle while sat with a Kurdish comrade.

Video footage apparently from a Kurdish broadcaster shows an armed European man with Kurdish fighters saying in Dutch: "The Kurds have been under pressure for a long time."

Many countries including the Netherlands have been clamping down on their nationals trying to join IS jihadists who have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Measures include confiscating would-be jihadists' passports before travelling and threatening prosecution should they return.

"The big difference with IS is that it's listed as a terrorist group," said De Bruin.

"That means that even preparing to join IS is punishable."

Dutch citizens could not however join the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as it is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, De Bruin said.

Now maybe to curve crystal meth sales in America our 1% biker gangs should link up with them.